Knitted fabric



Aug. 22, 1939.

WARE KNITTED FABRIC 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 5, 1937 IN VEN TOR. flank fifare F. WARE KNITTED FABRIC Aug. 22, 1939.

2. Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 5, 1937 I INVENTOR fifaczre BY C ATTOR Patented Aug. 22, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE KNITTED FABRIC tion of Pennsylvania Application May 5, 1937, Serial No. 140,788

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to a certain new and useful construction in knitted fabrics, or to a knitted fabric of certain construction and the method of making the same, characterized both 15 by a more or less cellular formation in the body of the fabric over pattern-determined areas thereof, as well as by a shirring of one wall of the cellular portions of the fabric, which wall constitutes the surface of the fabric on one side of the fabric, and characterized by the smoothness of the other wall of the cellular portions of the fabric which constitutes the surface of the fabric on the other side of the fabric. The present invention relates more particularly to a generally two-ply knitted fabric preferably formed on a double-rib type circular knitting machine having two circular rows or banks of knitting needles and the usual complementary instrumentalities (jacks, sinkers, actuating cams, etc.) one row or bank of knitting needles being generally arranged as in a cylinder, and usually referred to as the cylinder needles, and the other row or bank of needles being generally arranged radially and usually referred to as the dial needles, and having a plurality of circumferentially distributed thread-feeds (as for instance four or eight separate threads fed to the needle line at four or eight equally spaced points in the circumference); with the needles of the two banks taking thread from different thread feed or feeds over pattern-determined zones or portions of the circumference of the banks, to form two separate and non-connected plies on the two banks of needles over said pattern-determined zones or portions thereof, and taking thread from the same thread feed or feeds over other pattern-determined zones or portions of the circumference of the banks, to form a single-ply double-ribbed fabric on the two banks of needles over said other pattern determined zones or portions thereof, which single-ply fabric portions will be in continuation of and as a merger of the aforesaid adjacent two-ply portions of the fabric; and with one ply of the non-connected or two-ply portions of the fabric raised in relief or puffed outwardly to form a pocket-like or cellular formation and with the surface of the merged or single-ply portions of the fabric (on the same side of the fabric as the aforesaid outwardly-puffed ply) depressed beneath the surface of the aforesaid outwardlypuffed ply of the two-ply portions.

One of the objects of the present invention is to form a knitted fabric of more or less cellular construction with alternate raised and depressed portions on at least one surface of the fabric, according to any predetermined pattern, whereby said raised and depressed portions will constitute a medium of patterning the fabric and whereby said cellular formation associated with said raised '5' and depressed portions will produce quick-drying qualities and other qualities desirable particularly for bathing suits, and alsoother knitted garments.

With the above and other objects in view '10 which will appear more fully from the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, one phase of the present invention consists of a double rib type knitted fabric having more knitted courses in one ribbed face thereof than 15 in the other ribbed face thereof, and havingalternate and adjacent pattern-determined singleply portions and two-ply portions in patterndetermined zones or areas, to produce alternate and adjacent raised and depressed areas of pre- .20 determined configuration, design or pattern, with the two faces of the fabric being of two separate and unconnected plies at the raised areas and of a merged, single ply through the depressed areas.

Another phase of the present invention com prises a method of making knitted fabrics on a multi-feed circular double-rib type knitting machine, having two circular needle banks, which consists in selecting (according to pattern) and causing some of the needles of one of the needle 80 banks to take feed from more threads and different threads than the other needle bank, thereby to form the two ribbed faces of the fabric with generally different thread content or different density or weight, that is, with one of the ribbed ,35 faces of the fabric having a greater or higher number of knitted courses therein, and with the other face of the fabric having a lesser or lower number of knitted courses therein, and causing pattern-selected needles of the high-course nee- 40 dle bank to remain inoperative at each of the several thread feeding points at which said highcourse needle bank normally takes feed and causing the same pattern-selected needles of said high-course needle bank to be operative and to take feed from the other thread feed which also feeds the low-course needle bank; thereby causing the needles of both banks (at these patternselected areas or zones) to knit the same threads which in the two-ply portions of the fabric form the low-course ply, and causing a depression at said zones on the front face of the fabric, and also causing the several threads which in the two-ply portions of the fabric form the high- ,course ply to float through the single-ply portions of the fabric in an unknitted condition and concealed from both surfaces of the fabric.

One phase of the present invention comprises a two-ply knitted fabric in which the plies are generally disconnected over certain predetermined areas or Zones and connected or merged into a single ply over other rare-determined areas or zones, and whereby one of the disconnected plies contains a greater number of knitted courses than the other of the disconnected plies, and wherein the thread or threads which form the low-course disconnected ply extend across the thread or threads which form the high-course disconnected ply at said connected areas or zones where the two plies merge into a single ply to form and to constitute the rib-stitch surface of the fabric on both faces thereof, and wherein the thread or threads which form the high-course disconnected ply remain unknitted or floated through the fabric over these merged or single ply areas or wherever the thread or threads of the low-course disconnected ply is inter-knitted into rib-stitch loops on both faces of the fabric.

For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the accompanying drawings, one form thereof at present preferred, since the same has been found in practice to give satisfactory and reliable results, although it is to be understood that the various instrumentalities of which the invention consists can be variously arranged and organized and that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangement and organization of the instrumentalities as herein shown and described.

Referring to the drawings, in which like reference characters indicate like parts:

Figure 1 represents a more or less schematic plan view (on a much enlarged scale) of the front face of a knitted fabric constituting one embodiment of the present invention, with the underlying stitches forming the rear face of the fabric omitted for greater clarity.

Figure 2 represents a schematic section on line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 represents a schematic section on line 33 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 represents a more or less pictorial view of the front face of one embodiment of the fabric of the present invention, on a much smaller scale; showing the general appearance of the fabric (the pattern shown being merely one of an infinite variety of possible patterns).

Figure 5 represents a fuller schematic View of the fabric on a much enlarged scale.

The present invention may be practiced on any suitable multi-feed circular knitting machine having two circular banks of needles, one bank generally referred to as the cylinder needles and one bank generally referred to as the dial needles; insofar as the former are arranged in generally cylindrical alignment with each other, while the latter are arranged radially in relation to each other, and at an angle to the first mentioned bank. The knitting machines of this type which I have utilized for the practice of the present invention, are those manufactured by the Philadelphia Jacquard Machine Company, wherein the thread guides are generally stationary and the needlebanks revolve in relation to the thread feeds. However, it is to be understood that the practice of the invention is not limited to this particular machine but other machines of this general class may be utilized, even such as in which-the needle banks do not revolve but the thread feeds revolve around the generally stationary or non-revolving needle banks.

In a convenient practice of the present invention, a four-feet jacquard knitting machine of this type may be utilized, and the cams which cyclically raise and lower the cylinder needles are so arranged as to raise the cylinder needles into their feeding or thread-engaging positions only at one of the four thread-feeding stations and the cams which cyclically move the dial needles outwardly and inwardly are so arranged as to cause the dial needles to be moved into their feeding or thread-engaging positions at each of the three other thread-feeding stations; so that except for the steps to be described hereinafter, two separate and distinct and unconnected plies (l and 2) of fabric would be formed, name- 'ly, one (i) on the cylinder needles and one (2) on the dial needles, with the fabric ply formed on the dial needles containing three times as many knitted courses, and hence being three times as dense for any given number of revolutions of thee machine (assuming the same weight thread is used at all thread-feeding stations).

By means of the patterning mechanism (controlled by any suitable control means such as the jacquard cards, pattern wheel or chain, etc.) certain predetermined dial needles (in successive spaced zones according to pattern) are caused to remain inoperative at the three thread-feeding stations which otherwise feed the dial needles, and are caused to become operative, on the other hand, at the one thread-feeding station which also feeds the cylinder needles, so that the thread 3 at that one feeding station will feed both the cylinder needles as well as the selected dial needles, so as to inter-knit the two plies, or in reality to merge the fabric into a single ply over a given zone as for instance the zones 4. The threads 5 from the other three feeding stations will be merely carried through the fabric at these areas 4 without being knitted at all, but merely floated between the loops formed at the one thread station (alternately on the cylinder needlesand dial needles) through these patternselected zones.

If the particular'pattern should call for interconnected zones of relatively great extent or wide area (measured parallel to the course), it may be desirable to limit the free-fioated length of the thread or three threads which form the ply on the dial needles, so that when the fabric is cut and sewed up into a garment, the free-floated thread or threads should not tend to leave the sewn seam. Thus, in order to minimize the possibility of the free-floated thread or threads leaving a sewn seam which may unite the cut edges of the fabric (as in a garment) the method and the fabric may further be modified in the following way. Instead of having all the adjacent needles in the predetermined depressed and united or single-ply areas 4 of the fabric (as called for by the pattern) inoperative (and instead of thus floating the three face threads 5 past as many adjacent dial needles) only alternate dial needles over the predetermined area Al are caused to remain inoperative at the three dial-feeding stations in each course and are caused to become operative at the cylinder-feeding station in the same course, while in the next succeeding course, the intervening dial needles over the same area 4 are so rendered inoperative at the three dial-feeding stations and rendered operative at the cylinder-feeding station, so that the three dial threads or the three face threads merely float past a single dial needle at any one time, but the needles are alternated in adjacent courses so that the net effect remains, to wit, a depressed zone 4 on the face of the fabric at which the two plies are interconnected or substantially integral or general- 1y single-ply and in which the three face threads are floated but only short distances instead of long distances even though the depressed area may be of any desired extent. The word thread as used in the foregoing description and the following claims is intended to comprehend both the singular and plural of this term.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and it is therefore desired that the present embodiments be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being had to the appended claims rather than to the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, What is hereby claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

l. A knitted fabric having alternate and ad jacent two-ply and single-ply portions arranged according to any desired pattern and having a greater number of knitted courses in one of the plies of the two-ply portions than in the other ply of the two-ply portions and the thread forming the low-course ply being interknitted with the thread of the high-course ply at patterned intervals in a course, and the thread forming the highcourse ply being floated within the fabric in an unknitted condition over those portions of the course at which the thread of the low-course ply is interknitted with the thread of the highcourse ply.

2. A knitted fabric having two-ply cellular formations according to any desired pattern, said cellular formations comprising a plurality of twoply cells, one wall of each cell being more or less shirred while the other wall of each cell is relatively smooth; the thread forming each wall of said cells being distinct from the thread forming the other wall thereof, and threads forming one Wall being floated Within the fabric in an unknitted condition over those portions of the fabric where the two separate walls of the cells merge into a single ply.

3. A knitted fabric having alternate and adjacent two-ply and single-ply portions arranged according to any desired pattern and having a greater number of knitted courses in one of the plies of the two-ply portions than in the other ply of said two-ply portions and the thread forming the low-course ply forming the distinct but interknitted loops on opposite faces of the singleply portions of the fabric at patterned intervals in a course, and the thread forming the high-course ply being floated within the fabric in an unknitted condition over the single-ply portions of the course at which the thread of the low-course ply forms both faces of the fabric.

FRANK WARE. 

